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http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/053/RipOf...
What worries me is when we get lumbered with badly drafted legislation. In the news recently I heard that there were plans to ban various types of "high-pressure selling". Hm. Giving people the impression they are protected by the law from all possible harm makes them all the more vulnerable.
Also, while publicsing specific cases like this is all well and good, remember that there will always be companies trying to sell you things you probably don't want. More general advice is useful: always understand exactly what you are getting before you pay; don't make snap decisions on the phone; if it sounds too good to be true it's not true; shop around and find the best deal for yourself, good companies don't need to cold-call people or make "one-time only" offers.
If you've submitted any information via this website from any page, run a virus scanner immediately.
This appears to be a sponsor of this nasty group.
I got through to a human operator who claimed to have no knowledge of who is dialing my phone number to do this automated survey.
He was then quite rude to me when I asked to be removed. The last time I asked to be removed he said, "I don't wanna". Then he put me back on some automated attendant thing.
I wish there was a button on my phone to send electric shocks.
*69 says: The last # that called me was 000 000 0000.
I suspect it is a phone fraudsters.
W
I had been doing a search for some information on this so called cruise. I listened to the recordings, lo behold I got the same o same o (btw I love your accent, wolala) anywho glad I saw what this was all about.
Now I got the information I needed.... thanks....
Would you consider doing a voice take for a website?
Thanks guys. no need to get excited now.
However, it's natural when they quote you that value that your mind jumps to visions of grand cruise ships and the "white glove treatment" that Imperial promises. Needless to say, when I agreed to pay the heavily-discounted promotional fee of $299U.S./pp, I had no idea that this would be non-refundable and that the company had a "no vacation cancellation policy."
If you do your research, and look up the "Sellers of Travel" section on the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services website (http://www.800helpfla.com/complnt.html), you'll see that according to Florida Law (and I live in Canada by the way), a consumer is entitled to a full refund within 30 days of purchase. However, every time I called Imperial's customer service, they refused to cancel the package, offering to extend the period that I could use the vacation, or a 100% money back guarantee (after you go through with the trip), or to upgrade your package. They told me that they could not refund the 149$U.S. security deposit that I supposedly agreed to. And that if I cancelled, I would lose all my money.
Know your rights. Contact your credit card company's dispute department, and they'll advise you on how to return Imperial's package (through registered mail) and with an official letter of cancellation. Or better yet, complain to the Florida Better Business Bureau (Canadians can send a complaint through our local BBB), and complain to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
I did, and got my full refund within one week (August 22, 2008) of falling for this "luxury" vacation package. Now I just hope there aren't any weird or unauthorized transactions on my credit card statement.
The irony is that Imperial Majesty keeps calling my house, and asking to speak to my parents. They seem to be aggressively targeting Canadians now, so warn your friends even if they are "smart." I considered myself smart, and yet I fell for this. They are incredibly persuasive!
Keep 'em coming! And don't forget, if you know how to "digg", then click the "digg" button at the end of the article to help spread the word!
All the transpotation to and from florida + taxes + port taxes + other taxes I will have to pay. After that I put "Imperial majesty" in the google and I have seen lot of scam like things with this company. Can anyone suggest what I should do?
Thanks,
Mayur
The cruise ship exists, the opportunity to cruise on it exists.
However, the opportunity to get totally scammed also exists.
Many people do not realise how poor the ship and cruise is, nor how much all the extra fees add up. There's no such thing as a free cruise - I think the most important thing to remember is that as soon as you have given your card details, you are in a contract with an overseas company to pay all the fees. As you can see from above, these add up, and by the time you work out that you have to get yourself to the USA - well, the other postings say the rest!
I found this forum and it has opened my eyes to this scam. I am now awaiting the phone call asking for the money and confirming my details. I shall be having a lot of fun with whoever is on the other end of the line until they get so annoyed with me that they hang up. Ive done it before and damn it, ill do it again.
I can only feel for anyone who has been done by this Imperial cruise scam, but hopefully with forums like this, it will stop people being taken advantage of.
Cheers to everyone who posted before with advice and warnings.
I was not in a position at that time (during the call) to make commitment to the cruise etc and after going round in circles with a guy based in Florida, he passed me onto his boss (a woman). and she was a little more stroppy by the fact that i had not 'told' him that i couldn't commit at this time.
The call lasted about 15 mins total and from being on the phone to the 'boss' for 2 mins and basically being asked could i commit or not - I said no, then the phone was hung up!!!!
PLEASE AVOID AT ALL COSTS - I AM GOING TO CONTACT BBC WATCHDOG TO SEE IF THEY WISH TO MAKE ENQUIRIES - I have been duped already this year - had no intention of it happening again. Watching the The Real Hustle is a great way to pick up and avoid some of these tricks afftecting you.
What I would really like to know is, who did they buy the phone numbers off as these are the real criminals
I posed a very simple question to BT - why can't your network stop me receiving these calls from this caller or, indeed, any international calls? There answer: there is no international agreement in place that allows them to do this!
I am totally gobsmacked that, at as a consumer in what must be one of the most highly regulated industries and countries in the world, I am forced to be a hostage in my own home to this fraudulant company's activities!
I will be contacting Trading Standards in the morning... I may even try speaking to the BBC's Watchdog programme...
"I am constantly receiving cold calls from an international number, with a pre-recorded message to take part in a phone survey in return for 2 free borading passes for a cruise to Nassau Bahamas.
From what I can tell, Imperial Majesty Cruise Line appears to operate from the USA.
I've complained several times to BT and also to OFCOM, but they are apparently powerless to protect UK consumers from this company!
Digging around of the internet, I found the following web site with some very useful information and someone's recording of the calls, which will give you the full unadulterated benefit of what I have been suffering:
http://www.digitaltoast.co.uk/free-imperial-maj...
If you listen long enough, the recorded message asks respondents to visit a web site (www.householdsurvey.com) - I would suggest you are cautious about doing that as there are reports, via the first link above, that this site attempts to install malware...
Please can you help me, and many others, stop these annoying and fraudulant (and possible illegal) calls?"
Good luck
The good part was that i was dead set on just getting those free tickets which they would not give up w/out getting my credit card number. After talking to 2 people and having them screaming in my ear (even after i told them to talk quieter) they finally gave up on me. I'm pretty sure I made soOmeone's blood pressure go up today :)
Do you guys know if there was any harm done in me leaving them my first name and my address? Please advice if I should contact my credit card agency/other parties!
Thanks!
Cheers for all this info on the scam
I just answered the phone at my parents place and got the silly cruise ship automated cold call. They get them all the time and I get them every now and then (or at least ones very similar).
I really hate scam artists, cold callers, general fraudsters, opportunist and all round PITAs. I can feel a little investigation coming on (I love digging dirt on these kinds of folk).
Having answered the questions (incorrectly - I only have the number 1 on my phone, ahem!!) I got through to an almost real person. She said her name was Operator 5578 and asked for my name. Instead I asked:
1. What is your company name?
"Answer Solutions"
2. What do you do?
"Provide an answering service"
3. What is the name of your client?
Clearly the last question was too hard for poor 5578 because she hung up. Ah well, guess I won't get my free boarding passes just yet!
about 1 week ago, i recieved the phone call and it was some kind of survey questions.. I have participated in that survey and then trasfered to a lady who told me that she will contact me in 72 hours.
i recieved the phone call about 72 hours later and they said, they were calling from Florida imerial majesty cruise. the lady went through general infromation about this holiday and how to make a payment, and that i have 18 month to choose travel date and make a payment.
i did not give her a credit card details, but i told her that i will need time to think about it and asked her a telephone number. she then transfered me through to a manger and manager start pressurising me to accept that offer...
i told him that i wanted to discuss with my partner and i would call them back on monday to confirm.
then i hang up coz, he was really agressive and demanding.
he said that, he will send me a ticket anyway. is there any chance that he will send me a tickets? if he will, will i have to pay 59dollars for each person anyway?
please help me, dont know what to think.
When I got through to the muppet on their end I asked him the name of his company; he did tell me but I regret I failed to note it. I asked how I could write to them, but he insisted (several times) only on offering me their website, which I wasn't interested in.
As we susbcribe to the Telephone Preference Service, it really p!55e5 me off to get calls like this. I did ascertain (dunno the truth of it or otherwise) that they were ringing from the UK, which should be within the scope of TPS, but we're obviously powerless to get them stopped, OR ARE WE? (anyone know?)
Anyway I'm afraid I lost it a bit, shouted some profanities at the turd on the end of the line and I think his supervisor told him to hang up, which he did. I'm not a violent man but just sometimes..........!
At the end of the original 'survey' I was asked to either ring an international telephone number or register on a web site 'cruiseclaims.com' which I could not access.
Over ther last month I have received calls daily from this company and had not answered for various reasons. I only answered in the end because I was bored and subscribe to the TPS and wanted to know how they had got my number.
Never buy at the door or phone, always check it out, that's one of my golden rules. Give cold calls the cold shoulder! Spread the word! Only then will they stop.
I said thank you but no thank you.... what a scam!
Thanks for all this information on here!
I,ve just 'fallen' for this as well and paid $789 by card
Has anyone actually been on this trip and enjoyed it ?
Just to add my notes to this long email chain I've just been curious to Google for:
I've just had a call. Greg from Imperial Majesty Cruises. 75%-80% discount. 8 days / 7 nights, start in Florida and so on and so on.
After all the waffle (which I'm becoming quite bored with by now and listening carefully to what it is they're actually about to ask me) BAM there it is, "So if you can just give me the expiry date on your card" - at which point the conversation went roughly like this (Greg's been talking until now)
Me: "I won't be giving my credit card information out over the phone."
Greg: "You've missing out on a great opportunity."
Me: "As a business person, I never make a purchasing decision over the phone - if you want to email something over or post me something, feel free."
Greg: "You're missing out on a great opportunity."
Me: "I'm sure I am, but it's not the only great opportunity I have been on or will go on - I'm happy to consider your opportunity, but I won't be making this decision or giving you my credit card details over the phone. That's not how I work, and I'm successful because that's not how I work" (I'm being deliberately very arrogant now)
Greg: "OK, but you're missing out on a great opportunity."
Me: "I'm sure I am - if you want to send me something in the post, then..." - then I hear the phone has gone down.
Erm....
To be honest, I was about to tell him, "Hey Greg, listen, I run an experience company here in the UK [I do] and I'm willing to give you 75%-80% off on the price - if you'll just give me the long number off the front of your card?"
I wonder how that conversation would have gone....
Caveat Emptor: Let the buyer beware.
Me again - yes, show Erotica this site too
Also, I found a website article authored by an ex-employee of the Imperial Cruise company - he said he hated it, and it's quite a well written article - might want to show them that too.
I don't have time to google for it again now, I'll see if I have time tomorrow.
Darren
Okay, I got this, had this happen, but they didn't get any banking information. When I discovered that their 'cruise' departed from Florida (myself a resident of Canada) I sort of freaked out and tried to figure out how to contact the survey peoples- at which point I found this listing. And sort of freaked out. Anyways, I decided that since they weren't answering my emails and had no phone number listed, I'd contact the cruise company itself. I did so, got a polite guy who GAVE ME THEIR NUMBER AWESOME!
The survey people are (http://www.surveyclaim.com/)
Their phone number is (1-800-203-9783)
I called them up, ascertained that yes I was in their database, but that I wasn't 'registered completely' yet- probably because it takes about a day for the registry to disseminate through their database or something like that. They tried to have me transfer to where I could get more information, and give them more data (HA HA HA!) and I jumped up and told them that I, unfortunately, am a wee struggling canadian art student who has no means with which to travel to Florida- neither money nor transport nor passport. I told them that I'd have to decline their wonderful offer (Flowery speech really helps make them believe that you /don't/ know it's a scam, and are genuinely sorry- and they just love those sorts of people)
The lady replied to me that this happened on occasion, and she'd cease my 'application' and the whole voucher process. I then asked to get my data removed from their database, which apparently will happen in three business days.
That /should/ be the end of this. If it's not- if they mail me shit and phone spam me, I'm going to contact them, get a supervisor and explain that I already called in and yaddayadda- and get the phone company to block their number.
And if by some method they try to get my money- they have some of my information wrong AND I don't have credit/checks, so they can't just bill me.
I remeber a few weeks ago I completed a survey and one of the prizes was for a cruise - so what a suprise when my husband took a call last night and advised me that I had won a cruise.
The lady told him she would call bakc in the evening - I haven't had a call as yet, however I decided to do my own investigation. I dialed 1571 and firstly listended to my missed messages, what a suprise I have a call on the 22/12/2008 advising me that I had won a cruise and to call 954 331 4121, I also had another call on the 23rd. I then googled the Imperial cruise and came accross this blog. Can I say what a saviour - I am no longer excited - but I do certantly look forward to receiveing their call in the next few days....
clowns calling in.. Operator 9645 was very rude and used language unbecoming to a fine young
telemarketer. Any info on how to contact this company, and do some investigative journalism,
with the recorder on of course.......
would be most welcomed.
Cheers,
M@
If you're into this kind of thing, you might also be interested in this:
http://www.digitaltoast.co.uk/uk-debt-informati...
p: 9054551196
greatful if i were to win.. Thanks for calling, hope its not a hoak..
Please do take care
Terri
Quick search brought me to this website which helped me confirm my suspicions. Thanks for posting the info.
I freaking hate cold call marketing crap.
Thanks,
Jeremiah
Jim
Thank-You
Jim
The call began with a fog horn, then a gentleman began speaking. There were seagulls and keyboard typing fx in the background. I hung up, though.
caught up with and suffer the consecequences. Thank you.
bahamas cruise